DL to use 757s ATL-RIC

[Dont call me Shirley]

I can see it now: "US responds with CRJ-700's to ATL!"


BY CHIP JONES
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 20, 2006


By using the long, narrow-body jet, Delta will offer 41 additional seats on each of the two daily Atlanta flights currently served by an MD-88.
AP
Delta Air Lines, which recently grabbed the largest share of local air travel, is preparing to stake another claim.

On Nov. 1, Delta will introduce a Boeing 757 jet at Richmond International Airport for regular service to and from its home base of Atlanta.

 

[jbragg476]

Well get this.... Delta now RON's a 757-200 in Pensacola, FL (PNS. Guess what we have here.... Used to be 3-4 737-300/400's. Now 2 CRJ-900's, 1 CRJ-700, and 1 CRJ-500

Crazy

 

[john john]

There are many cities that follow this example

 

[PoorPropDriver]

There are many cities that follow this example

I understand what you are saying but how much money has DL made in the last year? Clearly this Airline is short many mainline airframes but it is profitable. DL used to fly widebodies on many many domestic routes but not too many now.

 

[Groucho]

It may look impressive to place large aircraft in these markets but it is a sign of how out of whack the Delta fleet is. Delta has too many big airplanes for its domestic operation. They cost to much to operate on a fuel, maintenance, and crew cost basis.

Delta flies a 767-300 from ATL to DEN against a United 737-300, Frontier A319,and an Air Tran B717. They can't get enough market share to make that work. Likewise a B767-300 from TPA to ATL.

Delta domestically needs smaller, not RJ's, aircraft. They are a largely non-union carrier that has gone chapter 11 because they bet their future on the demise of US Airways and that all the Comair RJ's were going to drive us out of business. Were still here and they are now in chapter 11 with large structural problems that must be fixed.

 

[JAXPax]

But US does operated an A321 CLT-SYR at 9:30pm.

And A321s on other similar routes. Only 4 of us up front on an A321 Saturday night with about 35 in the back.

 

[tadjr]

on an A321 Saturday night

Right now almost everything is dead on a Sat night. I think its good that they have a limited schedule on Sat night (especially in Sep/Oct), but they need to pull it down even more I think. We put about 10 on our 430pm DCA flight last Sat. The rest of the week does well, but Sat night is a bust this time of year.

 

[superG]

It may look impressive to place large aircraft in these markets but it is a sign of how out of whack the Delta fleet is. Delta has too many big airplanes for its domestic operation. They cost to much to operate on a fuel, maintenance, and crew cost basis.

Delta flies a 767-300 from ATL to DEN against a United 737-300, Frontier A319,and an Air Tran B717. They can't get enough market share to make that work. Likewise a B767-300 from TPA to ATL.

Delta domestically needs smaller, not RJ's, aircraft. They are a largely non-union carrier that has gone chapter 11 because they bet their future on the demise of US Airways and that all the Comair RJ's were going to drive us out of business. Were still here and they are now in chapter 11 with large structural problems that must be fixed.

Those 767-300's are running quite full these days from ATL to the West, and the belly of the aircraft does carry lots of cargo as opposed to some other carriers that don't deal in that stuff.

 

[supercruiser]

Delta has been doing this for many years now. When I flew the F100 from many of our outstations to the hubs, the Delta competition at their gate to their hub always seemed to be a 757, occasionally an MD80 or 737 or 767.

 

[Capecod]

Delta has been doing this for many years now. When I flew the F100 from many of our outstations to the hubs, the Delta competition at their gate to their hub always seemed to be a 757, occasionally an MD80 or 737.

DAL also flys 767's from JAX and SAV to ATL. Crazy. -Cape

 

[FCYTravis]

DAL is finally figuring out that it doesn't make sense to fly super-expensive 767-300ER/400ERs on short hops to Florida cities. A lot of their widebodies are being converted for transatlantic service - that's where they're getting all the planes for the JFK international hub.

 

[JAXPax]

DAL also flys 767's from JAX and SAV to ATL. Crazy. -Cape

It's not crazy if you look at their typical loads. DL fills many of those B767-300s on JAX-ATL. They have a lot of revenue/lot of Elites here. Frequently a Platinum (their top tier) can't even get an upgrade on the 1 hour flight with 20-something seats in the front. The Crown Room Club at JAX is standing room only during peak times. Of course, the B767s are concentrated at times with good connections in ATL.... like the mid-morning bank to the west coast or the evening Europe bank.

 

[wings396]

While this may seem like overkill by DL with these large A/C, US has gone the opposite direction with the RJ's as their competition. US would fly RJ's on transcons if they would make the trip. I know of MANY passengers that preferred the Airline who was flying Mainline equipment over the Dinky toy jets... :down:

 

[BoeingBoy]

Don't know if it's what's DL's doing, but there's also the "incremental cost" issue with flying bigger equipment to seemingly odd places.

If an airplane is going to sit otherwise, all one needs to do is sell enough seats to more than cover the cost of fuel, crew, landing fees, etc (incremental costs) to make it worthwhile to fly something like a 757 ATL-RIC. After all, the cost of the plane, gates, agents, etc, is being paid whether the plane sits or flies. Getting extra flying out of a plane is the cheapest way there is to produce ASM's.

Plus producing those extra ASM's marginally lowers the overall CASM.

Jim